Akash Gehani, co-founder, Instamojo

Shubham Kesarvani, who runs a kirana store in Andheri West, says he was compelled to consider digital payment when he started losing customers. They would turn away when he'd say no to cashless transactions. "People have stopped carrying too much cash on them," he says. The 23-year-old not only offers these options to his customers, but also now uses them to pay his bills. 

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Gargia targets small stores that typically don't take up more than 150 sq ft space. "The store owners are smart when it comes to identifying what the customer wants and providing service. They don't have algorithms to calculate preferences and order history. Their technological prowess is poor and that was the gap we had to fill."

Alakh Gargiya, founder of Pay 1

Razor Pay and Metro Cash and Carry are also in the business. Instamojo, a digital payments platform, by Sampad Swain, Akash Gehani and Aditya Sengupta, is a seasoned player. Bundled with e-commerce features to expand business models, the platform is built on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts, credit cards and other digital payment instruments to create real-time payment solutions. "In 2013, when we started approaching small-time kirana owners with a digital payment option, we got a no. Out of 10, eight would reject us. Over time, when they saw e-commerce thriving, the resistance thawed. From a nice-to-have, it became a must-have. These days, it's no longer a yes or no; instead, they ask, how do I go about it?" says Gehani, one of the founders. While payments were a starting point, the start-up has expanded its offerings to include e-commerce options. "Under commerce, we give the business its own website. If they want to sell products, we manage the logistics and help ship the wares to customers," he says. To manage their cash flow requirements, they offer small loans in the range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000. "We have extended the services to not only include mom-and-pops, but also home tutors and freelancers." The prerequisite to sign up is to have a bank account. This is followed by an identification procedure. 

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the challenge for Gargiya is to help small businesses remain afloat. "If you take COVID-19 out of the picture, the challenge for us is to reach out to these small entities across tier II and III cities. We have now started creating 30-second videos, where we keep the content vernacular and pepper it with entertainment. We have started to observe positive results, but there's a long way to go."

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